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The Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, Bart., First Marquis of Halifax &C, Vol. 1 of 2: With a New Edition of His Works Now for the First Time Collected and Revised (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, B...)
Excerpt from The Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, Bart., First Marquis of Halifax &C, Vol. 1 of 2: With a New Edition of His Works Now for the First Time Collected and Revised
Englische Geschichte, v. 148, edit. Berlin, 1859 - 68. 2 History of English Revolution, p. 8. 3 Ibid. P. 174.
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George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, was an English statesman, writer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660, and in the House of Lords after he was raised to the peerage in 1668.
Background
Savile was born in Thornhill, West Yorkshire on 11 November 1633. He was the great-grandson of Sir George Savile of Lupset and Thornhill in Yorkshire (created baronet in 1611), was the eldest son of Sir William Savile, 3rd baronet, who distinguished himself in the civil war in the royalist cause and who died in 1644, and of Anne, eldest daughter of Lord Keeper Coventry.
Education
He was educated at Shrewsbury School in 1643 while his mother was staying with a sister in Shropshire. He later travelled in France, where he attended a Huguenot academy in Paris, stayed in Angers and Orleans, in Italy and in the Netherlands, and was also believed to have been educated in Geneva. He returned to England by 1652.
Career
In 1678 he took an active part in the investigation of the "Popish Plot, " to which he appears to have given excessive credence, but opposed the bill which was passed on the 30th of October 1678, to exclude Roman Catholics from the House of Lords.
In 1679, as a consequence of the fall of Danby, he became a member of the newly constituted privy council.
With Charles, who had at first " kicked at his appointment, " he quickly became a favourite, his lively and " libertine " (i. e. free or sceptical) conversation being named by Bishop Burnet as his chief attraction for the king.
His dislike of the duke of York and of the Romanist tendencies of the court did not induce him to support the rash attempt of Lord Shaftesbury to substitute the illegitimate duke of Monmouth for James in the succession.
He feared Shaftesbury's ascendancy in the national councils and foresaw nothing but civil war and confusion as a result of his scheme.
He declared against the exclusion of James, was made an earl in 1679, and was one of the " Triumvirate " which now directed public affairs.
According to Sir.
Communications were opened with the prince of Orange, and the illness of the king was made the occasion for summoning James from Brussels.
Monmouth was compelled to retire to Holland, and Shaftesbury was dismissed.
On the other hand, while Halifax was so far successful, James was given an opportunity of establishing a new influence at the court.
He returned in September 1680 on the occasion of the introduction of the Exclusion Bill in the Lords.
It lasted seven hours.
Halifax spoke sixteen times, and at last, regardless of the menaces of the more violent supporters of the bill, who closed round him, vanquished his opponent.
The rejection of the bill by a majority of 33 was attributed by all parties entirely to the eloquence of Halifax.
His conduct transformed the allegiance to him of the Whigs into bitter hostility, the Commons immediately petitioning the king to remove him from his councils for ever, while any favour which he might have regained with James was forfeited by his subsequent approval of the regency scheme.
He retired to Rufford again in January 1681, but was present at the Oxford parliament, and in May returned suddenly to public life and held for a year the chief control of affairs.
He opposed James's return from Scotland and, about this time (September), made a characteristic but futile attempt, where Hallam is quoted to this effect.
Halifax opposed in 1682 James's vindictive prosecution of the earl of Argyll, arousing further hostility in the duke, while the same year he was challenged to a duel by Monmouth, who attributed tc him his disgrace.
His short tenure of power ended with the return of James in May.
My Lord Halifax, " declared Tillotson in his evidence before the later inquiry, " showed a very compassionate concern for my Lord Russell and all the readiness to serve them that could be wished.
"2 The Rye-House Plot, in which it was sought to implicate them, was a disastrous blow to his policy, and in order to counteract its consequences he entered into somewhat perilous negotiations with Monmouth, and endeavoured to effect his reconciliation with the king.
On the 12th of February 1684, he procured the release of his old antagonist, Lord Danby.
Shortly afterwards his influence at the court revived.
Charles was no longer in receipt of his French pension and was beginning to tire of James and Rochester.
Halifax now worked to establish intimate relations between Charles and the prince of Orange and opposed the abrogation of the recusancy laws.
The opinions thus expressed were opposed by all the other ministers and highly censured by Louis XIV, James and Judge Jeffreys.
At the accession of James he was immediately deprived of all power and relegated to the presidency of the council.
Achievements
Halifax took an active part in Parliament's passage of the Test Act of 1673.
As leader of the Whig peers, he formally requested (1689) William to accept the crown of England.
Views
He was opposed to the parliamentary grant to the king of a revenue for life; he promoted the treaty of alliance with the Dutch in August 1685; he expostulated with the king on the subject of the illegal commissions in the army given to Roman Catholics; and finally, on his firm refusal to support the repeal of the Test and Habeas Corpus Acts, he was dismissed, and his name was struck out of the list of the privy council (October 1685).
He corresponded with the prince of Orange, conferred with Dykveldt, the latter's envoy, but held aloof from plans which aimed at the prince's personal interference in English affairs.
Membership
In 1660, Savile was elected Member of Parliament for Pontefract in the Convention Parliament, and this was his only appearance in the Lower House.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
In January 1684 he was one of the commissioners " who supervise all things concerning the city and have turned out those persons who are whiggishly inclined" (N. Luttrell's Diary, i. 295).
Connections
Halifax was twice married.
He married firstly in 1656 the Lady Dorothy Spencer, daughter of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland and of Dorothy Sidney, "Sacharissa" leaving a family including Lady Anne Savile (1663 – c January 1690) and William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax (1665 – 31 August 1700).
Dorothy died in 1670 and he married again in 1672, Gertrude Pierrepont, daughter of William Pierrepont of Thoresby. They had one daughter, Elizabeth, later Countess of Chesterfield, who seems to have inherited a considerable portion of her father’s intellectual abilities. Gertrude survived him.
His eldest son Henry Savile, Lord Eland, having predeceased him in 1687, his second son William succeeded to his peerage.